Joe's Blög

Ok bike is here and once again I am impressed by the Germans. It was partially assembled and it was a piece of cake to get it the rest of the way assembled (except an allen wrench was missing, but I just popped round the hardware store for that). I didn’t even have to look at the instructions…I’m just going to credit the Germans for making it easy for me…

i almost had a conversation in Deutsch at the hardware store…

me: haben sie…(me holding up the wrench that was the wrong size).
dude: (unintelligible deutsch…but apparently a lot of people don’t know what those wrenches are called so he happily told me)….(followed by more unintelligible Deutsch…then followed by the word) unter.
me: danke

allow me to translate….”For the allen wrench you need to go Downstairs young man!!!”
ok not much of a conversation, but baby steps…

I’ve embarrassed myself again so I’m going to go look up Cyndi Lauper lyrics until I feel better

just kidding…Lunch then maybe a bike ride…

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OK took today off…mainly cuz I’m hoping my bike will arrive today and I don’t want to have to go to the post to pick it up (as I would if I wasn’t home). So since I’m bored I was reading an interesting opinion on someone learning deutsch.

http://www.expatica.com/de/life_in/blog/the-hausfrau-ruminations-on-the-german-language-46059.html

this is one of the things I really like about Germans compared to americans (especially in a work environment), they actually listen to each other and don’t interrupt. In the States in a business meeting it is common for people to interrupt and talk over each other…after spending some time here and then going back to the states I decided I really don’t like that. It’s annoying to have to have meetings with americans simply because of that.
read it, but interesting part for me is this

As I turn this all over and over in my mind, it becomes quite obvious to me why Germans are characterized as being so meticulous and precise — they have to think everything through before they say it, and they have to listen all the way to the end of the sentence in order to understand each other, else some catastrophic miscommunication might occur. Understanding this notion may perhaps make it easier for expats like me to accept the quirks and peculiarities of the German language.and from Twain…his essay is a good read.
“My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.”

OK now I go back to waiting…

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wow the profoundly unexplained mess of my attempted rant about women being treated poorly got the best response of yesterday…as usual my mom doesn’t really get sarcasm…she sent me an email about women with balls or something she didn’t get my point so I won’t get hers

Hi Mom!!!

…and for those of you who asked or were thinking it, no the women comment is not about any woman in particular, but years of observations…

Ok today is paddy’s day and as usual I’m annoyed by the whole “hey let’s have an excuse to get drunk…” like the Irish need an excuse to get drunk…and while I’m on the Irish I have to say that of all the places I’ve been in Europe the loveliest girls I’ve seen have been in Ireland and Spain…no word yet on whose at the top..tis currently a tie… I’ll have to revisit both for a review…I’ll have to Mctravel just to solve this Sherlock Holmes style epic mystery.

anyways…people that need an excuse to be drunk and act Irish are a dishonour to the Irish…they need no excuse to act irish and be drunk…;)

all the pubs here were celebrating “st. paddy’s day weekend” since today is Monday and as we all know the irish don’t drink on Monday…
so as of Monday at about 5PM I was thoroughly annoyed as usual at the drunk people who were “honouring” the bloody fecking irish….
insert comment here about honouring a culture that’s greatest accomplishment is NOT acting drunk…;)

so it’s now 9PM and I overstayed me welcome everywhere and am back home…
here’s some pics from the new camera taken over last st. Paddy’s day “weekend”. The pics aren’t that interesting, just note the improved quality, and if anyone can use my old camera let me know and you can have it…

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I went to the music messe yesterday. Was a good time. Lots of instruments and lots of people playing them.

Damn you booth girls and your need for attention. I’m boycotting all booths with underdressed booth girls…Not the girls just the booths

My favourite musicians were the accordion players…I’ve never seen a bigger bunch of social outcasts as was in the accordion area…some of them were playing incredible music, and they were really into themselves, but judging by the lack of booth girls (actually there were no girls at all in the area except Kat and Kris) I guess the accordion is carrying a bit of “baggage”.
Now having said that it was revealed a bit later that Kris does play the accordion. In fact she has 1 at home and 4 more at her parents place….Despite my best efforts I could not get her to loan me one of them…as I would be proud to play the accordion…

This week I’ve also been compared to Murakami. Honestly I have never heard of this guy, but with a description of “easily accessible, yet profoundly complex.” I’ll take it.

I was also accused of: “American speed travelling….you’re McTravelling around the world! Don’t you need at least a week to immerse into a different culture?” (Red)
….uhhh….it’s just my genes?!?! how’s that for a comeback…no really…the weekends are nice and for someone like me who hasn’t travelled much it’s good…once I get the basics out of the way I can refocus on longer trips and immersion…(is immersion really the goal?).

I also bought a camera this week…I didn’t actually do any research, but just bought the same model as a friend…and she did research…I think…anyways pics will come later.

U know what really pisses me off…when women seem to tolerate (or even encourage)
being treated like shit by a man…if a man ignores you, talks down to you, is rude to you etc. it doesn’t mean he likes you or you deserve to be treated like that…get some balls and act like a real adult person with a bit of dignity who deserves respect and to be treated like an equal.
that is all…

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got an email from Matt asking if I was going to start writing about fluffy bunnies and stuff now that I’m happy…sure thing mate…I know how you like that sort of thing…

they were selling bunnies on the street in Barca…(nice segue).
the bunnies were almost as frightening as scarface, the guy who kept seeing me around and I think his only vocabulary was ‘hashhish’? dude had a scar from his mouth up his cheek…if he had said to me ‘fluffy bunny rabbits’. I still would have been scared of him…
He asked me 3 times in 36 hours….Dude!!!

I honestly didn’t know how to spell segue before tonight, but I’m using it twice tonight…Just for kicks I’m now linking to my bad poetry page…(look at me I’m being artistic)…I know what you’re thinking….where is the segue (almost tired of that word now)…well….after a horrible miscalculation I’ve just discovered that St Patrick’s day and Easter are not on the same day this year…there is no segue…segues do not exist.

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Second longest occupation ever!?!

Back from Barcelona (where the wind goes sweeping down the plains….). Ok if you get the attempted joke and realize it’s not funny just shake your head sadly…if you don’t get the joke just smile and nod cuz we all know if it came out of my head it’s FREAKIN FUNNY!!!!!

gorgeous city…maybe the most beautiful city I’ve visited…I loved the architecture and location, food etc…was great! Avoid the Ramblas though…it’s like the Zeil x 100. Definitely would like to go back and to other places in spain…but not BCN in the summer…off season is probably the way to go.
…and there were more americans there than anywhere I’ve been in Europe…I do find it funny that I can spot out the americans pretty easily (by sight)…and their accent is a bit annoying to me now…at least some of them…
at least the ones in BCN…

Observations…you’re not allowed to drink in the street (of course people do, and people sell cans of beer for 1€ illegally), however smoking is apparently encouraged because cigarettes are really cheap (not taxed?)…how’s that for priorities….

I saw more cats in spain in one day than I’ve seen in DE since I’ve been here…

Kat met me at the airport for a good bye glass of wine (Kat you get the award for best impersonations ever!). There was some bomb threat or something as we got kicked out of the cafe and the police cordoned off an area…So I just took my wine glass and was walking around the airport with it…

So in Spain we saw the Picasso Museum. One thing interesting is that everything is cheap in spain…at least compared to Germany, the UK and France…the museums had costs associated with them…I guess low taxes means no money for the arts…

all in all a good and productive weekend…got some good therapy and feel better than I have in weeks (thanks Ms. Hemmerling).

Chipped a tooth in the airport restaurant…I thought it was a chicken bone, but no…my back tooth broke…at least now I can chew on that side of my mouth…doesn’t hurt anymore.

Here’s a few pics and the regular pic page is here.

Had Cracker lyrics running through my head. One of the few bands that I still listen to from the 90′s. I go back to them again and again:

“Cigarettes and carrot juice
Get yourself a new tattoo
For those sleeveless days of June
I’m sitting on the cafe Zeno steps
With a book I haven’t started yet
Watching all the girls walk by

Could I take you out
I’d be yours without a doubt
On that big dipper
And if the sound of this it frightens you
We could play it real cool
And act somewhat indifferent

And hey June
Why’d you have to come
Why’d you have to come around so soon
I wasn’t ready for all this nature
The terrible green-green grass
The violent blooms of flower dresses
And afternoons that make me sleepy

But we could wait awhile
Before we push that dog turn-style
Into the passage
The thousands they have tread
And others sometimes fled
Before the turn came

And we could wait our lives
Before a chance arrives
Before the passage
From the top you can see Monterey
And think about San Jose
Although I know it’s not that pleasant

And hey Jim Kerouac
Brother of the famous Jack
So he likes to say, “Lucky bastard”
He’s sitting on the cafe Zeno steps
With a girl that I’m not over yet
Watching all the world go by

“Boy you’re looking bad
Did I make you feel that sad?
I’m honestly flattered.”
But if she asks me out
I’d be hers without a doubt
On that big dipper

Cigarettes and carrot juice
Get yourself a new tattoo
For those sleeveless days of June
I’m sitting on the cafe Zeno steps
I haven’t got the courage yet (3x)”

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am bound for Spain tomorrow…am happy

see you all next week…
…cept if you’re in spain…see you tamale!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=luTxwqxaRcY
this is amazing…they actually named the storm that came through here a few days ago…I thought they could only do that with hurricanes and tropical storms…anyways that’s my airline!!!
Hopefully they won’t have another strike tomorrow…

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I was attempting to be nostalgic the other night and looking through a family photo album my mum sent…t’was weird though…I didn’t really feel like I knew any of the people in the book…it was kind of like looking at a high school yearbook…it seems a long time ago and half a word away (ok, that’s exactly what it was), but still…I guess this is my fault?!? Not sure…

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Sanne threatened to speak only Deutsch to me…this lasted about 2 sentences…I did learn windy though (das Wetter ist Windisch)…

my colleagues threaten to do this about once a week, but it never lasts either, though I do miss out on large chunks of conversation because I can’t speak…I always figure if it’s important someone will tell me about it later…

however I am glad to report, that my Deutsch is indeed getting slightly better. I can sometimes read paragraphs and get the point…

Was stuck in a roomfull of drunk brits last night…as usual I was observing/studying people too closely…Since there was lots of drunk brits flirting with each other I have to write about this.

the whole interplay between men and women is always interesting…I love the body language and glances that a woman gives a man when she’s obviously interested. Usually the glances are subtle (when the man looks away etc.) …but being as I’m just observing others I get to see them. (I’d write about unsubtle glances but then we’d just degenerate into a discussion on MS

Men are funny in this way too…some men are completely oblivious to what she’s thinking…Some men think every woman is into them (is this too much self esteem?)and some men (falsely) think that no woman is in to them.

It’s like a reverse of women who are friendly and seem to be flirting with every one they meet. It may not be intentional, but these signals are confusing…Guys need more help in this regard.

There should just be a common set of rules here…

I was trying to find a pic to illustrate this, but the ones I have only marginally show this…then I was trying to find a pic of a woman giving a dirty look to a man…didn’t find anything good on my hard drive for that either…

there’s a great band called Beirut (can I just call it world music?) with songs titled Bratislava and another called Brandenburg…two places I will have been by the end of this year?!?

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Stephanie(2,0′s SLF) describing my blog: “It’s very stream of consciousness…it’s a bit like james joyce…”

The collective heads of the collective estate of james joyce’s head just exploded (wow that makes no sense). This is like saying taco bell is a bit like mexican food…mmmm I could go for some taco bell….

(were tortillas invented in spain or mexico…)

now I’m hungry…

other random out of context quotes for the week

2.0 (to me): don’t be a bitch!

steph (to me): Do you try to make people feel weird…
me or delia?: no it just happens.

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